Shoko
by SoundGeare
Summary: The story of Shoko
1. The Dojo

I hate adventure time. If you've ever read any of my stories, you'll know that I spend most of my author's notes complaining about having too many stories going at once. That's because I'm stupid and keep biting off more than I can chew.

I've been slowly cutting down on my stories, diligently finishing them one at a time until I only had four left.

Then I watched The Vault and fell in love with Shoko. She just has too much potential to pass up. I love everything about her, from her tragic background to her hesitant friendship with Bonnibel. Missing arm, tiger, knife, thievery. I love all of it and I couldn't rest until I put her in a story.

Well, here it is. I hope you enjoy it. I'm going to try for one or two updates per week of about 1,000 words apiece. However, since I don't manage time well, it might turn into every other week or just sporadic updates for a month then a whole lot at once. I apologize in advance, but as I said before, I'm stupid. I've been told that I write well though, so I hope you enjoy this.

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**Part I**

The old man watched as the trio progressed slowly across the uneven countryside. The Dojo's position offered an unobstructed view, allowing the opportunity to see anyone approaching for miles before they arrived. It was a unique allowance in a harsh landscape sporting multitudes of equally jagged hills and ravines. In most places, only a second's notice was afforded to travelers and encampments alike.

They'd chosen this place specifically for that feature. It wasn't a large building, and the inhabitants weren't soldiers or warriors. Aside from the old man and his wife, there was only one other adult.

Stephen was only twenty four though. He'd been a warrior several years ago when he came here, but all he did now was help watch the children. He told them stories about the world and taught a few of the older ones things he'd learned. An army of children would do them no good, and it would break the old man's heart to ever see these children enter battle.

That was part of the reason for the view. If they ever saw anything unfriendly approaching, they could retreat into the hills in any other direction.

These three didn't look unfriendly though, only sad. The parents both had helplessness apparent in their eyes, while the child between them carried only the secondhand uneasiness she'd picked up from her parents.

The little girl held a small ragdoll in one hand and left the other one tucked into her pocket. Long black hair ran over her shoulders, running together in thick tangles at the ends.

As they approached, the father asked, "Is this the place? The…"

"The Dojo, yes." The old man said. Stephen had thought of the name and it stuck. Neither the old man nor his wife liked it, but the children seemed to. That was all that really mattered in the end, so it stayed.

The father nodded and said a little shyly, "Good. We want… no… I…"

"I understand. The wasteland is a dangerous place." The old man turned back toward the house and called to his wife. She looked up from the swarm of children and came over, though not before notifying Stephen.

His wife turned to cheery smiles as soon as she neared the child. She reached a hand out to the little girl and led her away, telling her about all the other children there would be to play with.

The girl wasn't quite smiling, not yet. She probably wouldn't smile for a few days, but eventually she'd warm up. It was always heartbreaking. This was a terrible thing, to split up families, but it was the lesser of two evils. Sometimes these children would just be left to wander the wasteland unaccompanied. From there, who knew what would happen to them. Any number or combination of evils.

Bringing children to Dojo was a way for parents to make sure their children would be safe even when they knew they could no longer provide that safety.

As he watched the little girl walk away, the old man noticed something strange. Something awful. While the child walked past, the old man realized that her empty hand wasn't hidden in a pocket at all. The majority of her right arm was missing, removed midway above the elbow.

The old man shuddered a little, thinking about the pain that little girl must have gone through. Pain wasn't meant for children. This world was not a place for children or innocence. It saddened the old man that he couldn't think of a time when happiness had had a place to thrive. The world was all like this. The world had always been like this. As far as he knew, it would be like this until the end of time.

He distanced himself from the unpleasant thoughts and turned to speak to the parents. They were staring off after their child, the unmistakable lines of regret and uncertainty carved into their faces.

"It's the right thing to do," the old man assured them, "This is a safe place, and she'll be happy here. I promise."

They nodded, though the look in their eyes didn't go away.

Taking a breath to ready himself, the old man began the usual questions. "Is there anything I need to know about her?"

The parents looked at him blankly, and he elaborated, "Is she sick? Any allergies? Asthma, sunburns, or sensitive eyes? We don't have much in the way of medicine, but the little we can do can be done much better if we have some idea of what's to come."

He paused for just a moment to steady himself and ready himself for the most difficult question. "And what exactly happened to her arm?"

They were still speechless, still in shock. At what they were doing or at what he had asked. The father's jaw tightened a little and he didn't say anything. It was the mother who broke the painful silence. Her voice was small but insistent.

"Her name is… Shoko, and she's allergic to melons. Nothing really serious, they just make her face itchy when she eats them."

The old man could see in her eyes and hear in her voice exactly how distressing this was. He'd heard it a thousand times before but it never got any better. The sadness was never lighter or easier to deal with.

"Cut them up little. Don't let her get any on her face and she'll be fine."

The mother seemed to be on the verge of tears. The old man nodded and said, "Thank you, I'll be sure to remember that. Is there anything else?"

"Tommy don't bite!" Stephen called out from far behind him. On instinct, the old man started to turn in that direction. There was always a part of him that wanted to rush to the children's aid, even if it was to protect them from the discipline they needed.

The old man turned back to face the couple, but found himself alone. They were already walking down the hill and about to disappear beneath a stand of scraggly bushes.

As always, he wanted to run after them. He wanted to bring them back, give them their daughter and insist that they could do better than him. They were her _parents_ for God's sake! If anyone knew what to do, it was them. She was their daughter and she belonged with them, not two geezers, a twenty four year old, and their herd of refugee children.

He didn't go after them though. He never did. A clean break was best. They would be convincing each other now that this was the best thing to do. He couldn't go after them or call out to them. If anything stopped them now, they would swing back the other way.

As much as the old man didn't want to admit it, this was the best place for the little girl.

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So how was it? Leave a review and let me know how the beginning was. I purposefully used God instead of Glob etc. because these are still humans with human culture instead of morphed Ooo culture. Any other questions I'll be glad to answer.


	2. Specter

Shoko hovered around the edge of the group. Her hand clenched around the doll's midsection, Shoko watched like a specter. None of the other children seemed to take much notice of her. They were too distracted, playing nearly as many games as there were children.

"Umm…" She whispered into the mob, "Hi… I'm…"

The words were lost though, swept away by the chorus of laughter and voices. All of the kids were of different sizes, some standing high above Shoko while nearly as many were half her size. They buzzed about, creating games for two or three players, then dispersing and creating a new game with two or three different kids.

"Hi," a friendly voice said from nearby.

Shoko spun around toward the voice and found herself staring into a pair of eyes only an inch away from her own. They were the same reddish brown color as mud after rain. After the eyes, Shoko saw pigtails and broad smile.

She jumped backward, nearly losing her balance in the process. Luckily, the other girl reached out and managed to grab Shoko by her shoulder and pull her back upright.

"Oh that was close!" the girl said exuberantly, "I'm Sam, what's your name?"

"I'm… uh… Shoko…"

"Shoko," Sam said to herself, apparently committing the name to memory, "Do you want to come play Shoko? You could be on my team. We really need a…"

"No, I'm…" Shoko murmured out, causing Sam to stop talking mid-word, "I won't be here long. You should find someone else."

Sam looked at Shoko for a moment, finally saying, "Are you sure?"

Shoko nodded and Sam replied, "Oh alright, maybe some other time. Bye Shoko."

"Bye Sam," Shoko said shyly, watching the smiling girl turn and walk away. Sam quickly stepped into the cloud of children and was lost from sight.

She watched the flurry of movement for a few moments, until a boy was suddenly ejected from the mass. He rolled over twice until he was flat on his back near her feet. The boy's eyes sprung open and he stared up at her with energetic blue peepers.

"Hey," he said climbing to his feet. At his full height, the boy was a little shorter than herm but not by much. Shoko was about the say hi back, but he was already hurtling back into the crowd. He charged inside and, like Sam, was swallowed up.

For a moment, Shoko wondered what the boy's name was. However, she quickly decided that it didn't really matter. She was going to be leaving soon anyway. Shoko turned away from the swirling sea of children and searched for her parents.

She could see the old man standing near the edge of the plateau, and the endless distance of hills that lay beyond him. There was a midsized building and there was the old lady trying to pry two wrestling children apart.

It didn't take long for her to realize that her parents were gone. She couldn't believe it though. Shoko kept swinging her head around, searching frantically for them. Maybe they were simply hidden behind something. Maybe they were hiding from her.

However, the longer she stood there alone, the harder it became to believe this. Her parents were gone. They'd left her. Why did they leave her?

Shoko felt a whimpering hiccup pop in her throat, then she was sniffling. She didn't want to cry. There were all these other kids around. Her parents were gone, they'd left her. Shoko could feel her eyes starting to burn and her vision started to fill with tears.

They'd left her. Why did they leave her? Where did they go? Why?

She gasped out that last question, though her throat was clenched so that nobody would understand the word if they heard.

"Hey," a voice said tenderly, "It's going to be okay."

Shoko spun around and found herself facing a kneeling man. He had a short blond beard and sharp brown eyes. He put a hand on her shoulder lightly and began to ask her questions.

"What's your name?" he asked. The man smiled and Shoko felt a little of her uneasiness leave.

"I'm… I'm Sho… ko." She whimpered out.

"Alright Shoko, I'm Stephen. Do you want to tell me about your friend here?" Stephen gestured toward the doll in Shoko's hand.

Shoko looked down at the doll then hesitantly back up at Stephen.

"This is… this is Sara."

At Stephen's gentle insistence, Shoko went on to tell him about Sara. Where she'd found her, how long she'd had her, where she got buttons for her eyes.

"Just last week I had to sew shut a cut she got on her foot when I was climbing over a fence and she got caught. I had to use the rest of my thread because it was pretty big. She's okay now, though."

Stephen chuckled lightly and smiled, "That's good. You must be something of a nurse then?"

Shoko laughed and said incredulously, "A nurse? No."

"Oh I'm sorry, a doctor."

Shoko made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a scoff.

"Noooo," she insisted, "I'm going to an adventurer. I want to see the whole world. There's this story that my mom tells me, about a guy called Christopher. He… he saw the…"

She started sniffling again, all too aware of what she'd said. Her mom didn't tell her stories, he mom_ had told _her stories. Her mom was gone, disappeared. Her parents were gone and she'd never see them again.

"Hey Shoko," Stephen said, stepping in before she got too absorbed, "I've got a surprise for you. Something you're really gonna like."

"W-what?" she stammered out.

"Before I came here… I was… an adventurer!" Stephen exclaimed, "I know all about the world and stuff. I could teach you about it."

She was too shocked and excited to cry.

"You… you could? You really were? Like the candle guy?"

"I sure was!"

"And you'd really teach me?"

"I really will."

As of that moment, Shoko worshipped him.

"Hey Stephen! Could you give me some help? They're a handful today." The old lady's voice came from the distance.

Stephen looked away in that direction and called out, "Sure thing Mrs. B."

Turning her attention back to Shoko, Stephen said, "I've got to go now, are you going to be alright on your own? You can go play with the other kids. They're rowdy for sure, but they're nice."

"I'll be fine," Shoko said, "Just don't forget to teach me about adventuring."

Stephen laughed, "Don't worry, I won't forget."

Stephen walked away, wading through the sea of children. Shoko stayed where she was and watched him go. Unlike the others, he didn't disappear and he wasn't swallowed. Shoko was still able to see him once he'd gone away.

She pulled Sara up near her mouth and whispered, "We're going to be okay here. Stephen says they're nice, little sis."

Lowering the doll back to her waist, Shoko looked around. Her eyes immediately fell on a boy who was watching her from afar. He had violent red hair and a purple bruise below one eye. Shoko recognized him as one of the boys who had been wrestling while Mrs. B tried to pry them apart.

Shoko held eye contact, expecting the boy to look away after a moment or get bored and leave. However, he continued to stare at her and Shoko began to feel awkward. She looked away, imagining that he'd stop looking if she did.

She stared out, past the edge of the plateau and off into the distant mountains. She often wondered what lay beyond those mountains. For all of her life, she'd lived in a bowl, always curious of what lay beyond the rim. Someday she'd find out.

"Hi," a voice said from beside her.

Shoko spun around and found herself staring at the red-haired boy.

"I'm Tommy," he said, looking straight at her with strange yellow eyes.

* * *

Hope you liked that as much as I liked writing it. I've got some big ideas for this story and it is very refreshing to write. This is going to be a lot of fun, I can already tell.

Leave a review, let me know what you thought.


	3. Tommy

It just occured to me why I like this story so much. I have pretty much complete control over where I want to go with it. I _have_ to include Shoko (probably my favorite character right now_). _I have to include the dojo, relate armlessness to her parents and their computer fetish, and I have to make it end with PB and her amulet. Everything else is mine. I can create all the OCs I want. There's no mandatory plot sequences until right at the end. Every little bit of this story is my creation and I love it.

I can only hope you're enjoying this story as much as I am :)

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"My name is Shoko," she said, still looking straight into his eyes. They were so strange, the color of a _really_ full moon.

"Tommy…?" she muttered, "Are you the one that bites?"

He looked surprised, but it took him only a moment to catch onto her fleeting smile. He matched it with a wide array of teeth, all spread out across the inside of his mouth. A few gaps were visible, and through them she could see the darkness beyond.

Tommy laughed, "Yeah, that's me. Don't worry though, I won't bite you."

"That's nice," Shoko said.

"What happened to your arm?" Tommy asked brazenly. The question surprised her, and threw her off guard. She never expected anyone to venture near that subject. It was too painful, too obviously sensitive. Shoko felt this told her something about Tommy, but she didn't know what.

"I… it…" Shoko tried to say, but she was too shaken up by the reminiscence.

"I'm sorry," Tommy said, abruptly realizing her discomfort, "I'm not supposed to talk about that, am I?"

"It's okay," Shoko said, "I'm… I'm not too upset."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want."

Staring at Tommy, Shoko found herself comparing him to Sam. She didn't know why she did it, just that she did. Sam hadn't mentioned her arm, just like everyone else. Whenever anyone saw her, the first thing they noticed was the useless half-limb, but no one said anything. They always wanted to bring it up, or to stare at it, but no one did.

Shoko often found it irritating to watch someone awkwardly skirt around the subject. At least Sam had managed not to stare or stutter. Tommy, on the other hand, dove right in.

"It happened a long time ago," Shoko said, delving back into the past, "I don't remember all of it, just a few bits. I can remember it hurting, and I know it was dark out. I couldn't see at all."

Tommy's face sympathetic.

"It's all a blur. I woke up with two arms, then I woke up with one of them missing. I had this big bandage on for a long time too."

Having finished her fragmented story, Shoko sighed dejectedly. It always made her sad to think about it. That night was a hole of bad feelings and Shoko wished she could just lock it away where she'd never have to stumble over it again.

Tommy saw the sadness and started to apologize for asking. However, he paused mid-word and looked at her for a long moment. He was just staring at her and Shoko couldn't help but stare back at him. He looked so focused on her, as if he was trying to figure something out.

Then, all of a sudden, his eyes rolled back into his skull. They were all white and Shoko was, in turn, captivated. She was a little horrified too.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked, confusion and impatience both audible in her voice.

"I'm cheering you up," he said, eyes still blank. Tommy looked like a zombie, a talking zombie. Without any warning, he bent down and began to stand on his hands. Watching him totter around like an upside down zombie, Shoko couldn't help but crack a smile.

He just looked so, _stupid_.

A weak chuckle popped out, and was followed by a full laugh. Tommy was acting like a freak, drawing her attention away from how much of a freak she herself was. In a sudden fit of poise, Tommy lost his balance and fell flat onto his back.

It seemed that the air was thrown out of his lungs, since he didn't move. However, a few seconds passed without so much as a twitch. He wasn't breathing.

Shoko gasped and got down beside him, feeling totally unsure of what to do. She just stared at him, looking from his face to his still chest. From his still chest to his slowly reddening face.

She flinched backward as Tommy burst to life. He sat halfway up and started to suck up air. His face was still red, and he was still breathing hard as her turned round toward Shoko.

"I was dead!" he exclaimed.

"You were not!" Shoko cried out. She couldn't help it, getting caught up in his _stupid_ antics. There was just something about Tommy's foolish crusade that drew her in and made her forget about everything. She had to focus on him to make sure he didn't actually die or turn into a real zombie or anything like that. There was simply no room left in her head to think about her missing arm or her missing parents.

"I _so_ was! I was dead and you let me die! Some friend you are!" Tommy said accusingly, crossing his arms and turning away from Shoko in a faux sulk.

"But you weren't dead!" Shoko protested.

_Friend_

"I was too! You just didn't care enough to find out for sure."

"I _would_ care," Shoko explained, "If you weren't being such an idiot!"

"An idiot, am I?" Tommy recoiled, "I thought you liked me."

"I _do _like you!" Shoko insisted. However, there was a moment of silence before she caught her words and exclaimed, "I mean… I…"

"That's all I needed to hear," Tommy said confidently, climbing to his feet. Without so much as another word, Tommy rose to his feet and started to walk away. Feeling excited and flustered, Shoko followed him.

While walking, Tommy peeked over his shoulder once and acted surprised to see her there. Picking up his pace, he started toward the mass of children. Without even thinking, Shoko followed him onto the battlefield.

Visibility was low in the forest of short trees, and it was hard to keep up with Tommy. His semi-active evasion didn't help.

To Shoko's frustration, he disappeared suddenly. She continued to search around for him for a few minutes. It never even occurred to her that she was right in the middle of the group of children. In fact, she didn't think of anything outside the pursuit until she found herself face to face with Sam.

"Hey!" Sam exclaimed happily at the sight of her, "Look who decided to come play after all."

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Leave a review, let me know what you think :)


	4. Eggs

"Here I am," Shoko replied slowly with an awkward grin. She couldn't help peering over Sam's shoulder, in case Tommy was right there laughing at her.

"That's great!" Sam exclaimed, "I was afraid you'd never come join the rest of us. You want to play now?"

"Actually…" Shoko began, "I was just chasing Tommy and…"

Sam nodded as if she understood and began to speak.

"Ohhh, Tommy," she said, as if that summed the whole situation up, "What did he do _now_? You shouldn't let him get to you though, he doesn't know how annoying he is."

Shoko stared at Sam, feeling disbelief well up in her. She simply couldn't fathom the idea of Tommy being annoying. She wanted to say something, but she wasn't sure what she could. "_No he's not!"_ probably wouldn't do the trick. She didn't want Sam to get mad at her, but _still_!

However, Shoko found herself keeping quiet when another voice spoke up from behind Sam. "Who? Tommy? He bugs me."

Someone else said something as she approached from a different direction. Shoko didn't hear what she said or where she came from. She was too busy being surprised. The bubble had just popped. Instead of wandering through the sea as an island, Shoko had become just another drop in the ocean. People were dropping down onto and into her little world. It all came as a shock and she felt stunned by the fact.

"Hey, who's this?" the first girl asked, gesturing toward Shoko.

"This is Shoko," Sam said excitedly then, continuing on, she pointing to the other two girls in turn, "Meg, Jessie."

"Nice to meet you," the both said at the same time. Both of them smiled and had the same eager look in her eyes. They didn't look even remotely similar beyond that. Meg was short and had dark shoulder length hair, while Jessie was extremely blonde and extremely thin. She wasn't gaunt like a starving person. She simply had no extra flesh anywhere on her body. Green eyes and dark brown eyes, both excited and eager, watching her.

"Uh, hi," Shoko said, her voice becoming small again.

"Don't be scared," Sam said, "We're nice."

Shoko turned her toward Sam's voice, feeling a little startled. It seemed that Sam mistook this for panicked paralysis and she took it upon herself to crack open Shoko's shell.

"Can you tell us how old you are?" Sam asked sweetly, "I'm twelve. Meg and Jessie are ten, but Meg's birthday is coming soon. How about you?"

"I'm…" Shoko began, speaking gingerly as she watched the three girls watching her, "I'm eleven."

Sam nodded and smiled, "Right in the middle then. Do you want to come play with us?"

Shoko's heart simultaneously rose and sank. She _did_ want to go play with them, but she needed to find Tommy. She had to tell him that… that she didn't like him. But she did like him so… not in that way but… Shoko stopped and thought for a moment. She found herself staring over Sam's shoulder and past Meg's eager face. Once again, she expected to see Tommy but he wasn't there.

It didn't really matter then. He was nowhere to be seen anyway, and Shoko had no idea where to look for him. She'd explain her reasoning when she saw him again.

"Sure," Shoko said, a smile cracking on her face.

"That's great!" Sam declared, "Let's go, it's too crowded right here. Follow me."

At Sam's word, Meg and Jessie fell in behind her. Shoko took a moment longer to respond and wound up having to hurry to keep up as the trio navigated through the crowd. Shoko erupted from the swirling group a few seconds after them and watched breathlessly as they began to devise a game.

For a short while, they seemed to forget that Shoko was there. They were totally consumed by the act of making up rules and goals. Shoko didn't mind though, she didn't think she'd be able to contribute much.

She tried to listen, but Shoko couldn't pay attention. It wasn't that she didn't want to, just that she couldn't. Shoko found it very difficult to be interested in the argument about eggs and flowers. Meg insisted that they should use flowers for something, but Jessie said eggs. Meg exploded about how there were no eggs around, but flowers were present if scarce.

Jessie responded, trying to explain the idea of imaginary eggs.

It was then that Shoko drifted off. She simply couldn't listen to an argument about flowers and eggs. She'd go crazy. Shoko found herself wondering what Tommy was doing, and even looking around to catch a glimpse of him. She didn't see him though, and Shoko eventually gave up the search.

By this time, the game had been finished. They were to use flowers, much to the chagrin of Jessie. She was morose at first, but soon the game drew the girl out of her funk. It was too exciting for her to stay unhappy. The torrent of giggling fun swept them all up and carried them away.

All except for Shoko.

She didn't understand most of the rules of the game, and the bits he did know were boring. Why should she care how many flowers she had? Before long, Shoko had stepped away from the "excitement" and was watching disinterestedly. Somehow she'd acquired Jessie's funk.

Shoko looked away from the three girls for a moment and gasped. There was Tommy! He was on the ground, wrestling with the kid with blue peepers. Tommy was on top, then Peepers bucked up and threw him over. Peepers tried to jump onto Tommy, but he managed to roll out of the way first.

Without pausing to think, Shoko ran toward the pair. Tommy was on top now, but it didn't last. Peepers used the momentum and rolled Tommy over. They rolled again and again, off into the crowd.

By the time Shoko reached the place they'd been, she couldn't see them. It was as if they'd turned into air. Shoko stared into the crowd and wished they hadn't been swallowed. It didn't help though, and Shoko just felt disappointed.

Looking back toward the girls, Shoko watched them for a moment. The game was still going on, still as boring as ever. She didn't want to go back there, and she didn't want to stay here waiting for Tommy to erupt from the crowd on chance.

Shoko gazed around and picked a direction and headed there. She wound up sitting behind the building, with it between her and the rest of the children. It was much quieter there. Somehow the monumental noise was lost in the air.

She sat against the wall, marveling at the stillness. Shoko looked off into the distance, staring at the purple lip of the bowl and the auburn of the setting sun.

Shoko sighed and relaxed.


	5. Cherry Sun

It probably crossed your mind after the last chapter, but I wouldn't hate Sam & co. for not liking Tommy. They're little girls and he's an energetic little boy. Hyper and loud are annoying, and I assure you those two words do apply to Tommy. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Hope you like it. Don't forget to review once you finish reading, let me know what you think.

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Shoko stared out at the whole of everything and found herself transfixed. The sun was cherry red, floating just above the silhouetted lip of the bowl. The sky was a watercolor painting of pinks and oranges and whites, all smudged up against each other.

Looking down from the sun and sky, Shoko saw the effects the day's last light had upon the countryside. The grey and tan landscape was illuminated and seemed to glow as if set aflame. In the fading light, the rough and ugly world had been transformed into a thing of beauty.

Everything hung still for what seemed forever. The silence was thick and warm. Shoko could feel the sun's last rays playing out across her and she smiled. Everything was so calm, here and now. It was so amazing that Shoko couldn't imagine something to compare it to.

Something about the sunset overcame her tomboyish manner effortlessly. She was a wreck, sitting there watching the event. Had she been in a different mind, Shoko would have laughed at herself for behaving this way. However, it seemed that it was excusable this time. Something about this made it okay.

And so Shoko sat there, marveling at the calm and the silence, watching the sun dip slowly behind the lip of the bowl. The deeper the sun got, the more pronounced the lip became.

All of a sudden, the last edge of the sun slipped from view and left Shoko is grainy darkness. She couldn't see anything, and just as well there was nothing to be seen. Just the imagined bowl in the distance. There was always that towering wall at the edge of her world, always shutting her in and keeping her away from whatever was out there.

Shoko imagined fondly what might be out beyond the wall. Adventures of all kinds, people that needed her and who she could help. Shoko thought about fighting bandits and climbing mountains, exploring caves and finding the lost treasures of the old world. She smiled in the darkness, imagining herself doing all these things in the future.

Pausing in her fantasy, Shoko made one wish. While she wanted to adventure and see the world, Shoko didn't want to leave this place. Not soon anyway. Whatever this place was, Shoko felt that she would like it here. It was safe and she had friends.

That word felt strange to her mind, and Shoko found herself running through the names to convince herself they weren't imaginary. There was Tommy, and Sam. Those other girls, Meg and Jessie, would probably be her friends if she wanted to be theirs. And there was also Stephen. He said he was going to teach her about adventuring and Shoko was going to make sure he kept that promise.

She smiled, thinking about it all.

That feeling was still in her gut. That itching, twisting, anxious feeling that told her it was time to leave. It was always time to leave, and it had always been time to leave. Shoko knew she'd never be comfortable with just one place. However, she also knew that if there was a place she wanted to stay, this was it. If there was a place worth ignoring the itch over, it was here.

The air was warm against her skin, and Shoko felt strangely comfortable leaning against the metal building. Continuing to smile, Shoko imagined all the fun and nice times she would have here. All the friends she could have, and all the things she could learn. Shoko was excited, and that felt strange. There had never been many things for her to look forward to.

Her voice cutting through the silence like a raspy hatchet, Mrs. B called out, "It's time for bed everyone. We'll get the door open and everyone can start heading inside."

Shoko reacted immediately to the voice, rising to her feet and stretching her arms out to her sides. She actually was feeling a little bit tired, surprisingly. Following this revelation, Shoko proceeded to feel her way along the wall as a way of navigating the darkness. She progressed slowly, one tentative step into darkness at a time. However, she soon reached the corner and from there it didn't take long to meet up with the group.

Stephen was standing among the children like a tree among shrubs. He clutched the wavering light of an oil lantern in one hand and was gazing around slowly in search of lagging children. Upon meeting her eyes, Stephen raised his remaining hand and gestured for her to approach.

Shoko did so and pressed herself as close of against the group as she dared. Mr. B stood not far away, struggling to turn on oversized key in its lock. With a shift of weight and a sudden grinding click, Mr. B got the door unlocked and slid it open along a sliding track.

Staring at the building Shoko briefly wondered how they would all manage to fit inside. There were at least thirty children, while the building itself was no more than fifteen feet by twenty. Plates of tin covered the surface, but that was beside the point.

Mr. B stood by the door while the children all shuffled in. Once Stephen had come in behind them, he slid the door shut and relocked it. The building was cramped and Shoko found herself struggling to think straight over the grand chorus of fractured children's conversations. Ten thousand tidbits were all jammed together into her ears at once.

The best observation she managed to make was that the building walls were all brick on the inside. They were dark red and uniform, stuck together with some sort of grey paste.

A long, low squeal filled the air suddenly. Shoko's attention was turned back toward the figures of Stephen and one of the bigger, older children. They were both hunched over something, working their muscles desperately against it.

The squeal peaked then disappeared. From there on they turned with ease, then it was only Stephen doing to turning. He stepped back and, after a few moments, the children began to file toward the center of the building where Stephen stood.

Everyone moved forward sluggishly, and Shoko was confused as she stepped forward with them. She wondered where they were all going, especially since she couldn't see far enough forward to tell where they were going.

Finally, Shoko reached the center and found herself staring down through an open hatch in the ground. The outside of the apparatus was covered in dirt and rust, but the inner sections seemed to be well maintained.

Staring down, Shoko saw a ladder leading down to a whole environment of shiny metal.


	6. The Silver Place

Shoko stared down through the hatch, her eyes flying over every inch of the shiny metal surfaces. There was a ladder, covered with smudgy fingerprints. The walls were flat and silvery, while the only floor Shoko could see was fashioned from many square lattices of grey metal.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Sam's voice said over her shoulder.

Shoko jumped a little at the sound and found herself staring back at Sam.

"Yeah," she said, her voice small again, from wonder not fear, "It's… amazing."

"Sure is, it gets even better once you're inside."

"Hey Sam!" an irritated voice called out from behind them, "Can you get her to hurry up?"

Sam spun around toward the voice and said caustically, "Shut up Becky, this is the first time she's been down here."

The voice, Becky, was silenced by that remark. Shoko felt grateful for that, and found herself smiling.

"Don't mind her. Becky's just impatient, that's all. Oh hey, "Sam said, pausing for a moment, "Do you want me to hold your doll while you're going down?"

Shoko stared back and forth between Sam and the ladder, remembering her handicap suddenly.

"Uhhh," Shoko moaned quietly. She didn't really want to give Sara away, but it didn't seem that she had a choice. Shoko stalled for a moment, staring down into the well and wondering if she could manage it without falling or dropping Sara.

Finally, Shoko decided that she couldn't and reluctantly handed the doll over to Sam.

After staring down the ladder for a few more moments, Shoko began her descent. Setting one foot on the first rung, Shoko propped herself up against the lip of the hatch while she got the rest of her body into place. To move downward, Shoko had the brilliant idea of hooking her chin over the rung while she reached for the next with her hand.

Shoko reached the bottom quickly and immediately stepped away from the ladder as Sam stepped down into the place she had been. Shoko was rubbing her sore chin as Sam handed Sara back to her. Shoko was glad to have the doll back.

Shoko looked around at the silver place, trying to take in every detail she could. It was impressive, seeing the clean surfaces and brightly lit atmosphere. Shoko approached the edge of the platform and gazed down over the equally shiny guard rail. It seemed to go down forever, all silver and gleam as far as the eye could see.

Shoko kept staring it all, feeling shocked and amazed by all of it, until a raspy squeal stole her attention back. Stephen was perched at the top of the ladder, twisting the hatch shut again. Most of the children were shuffling down the stairs, heading deeper and deeper down into belly of this silver place. Sam was standing idly nearby.

Shoko headed away from the rail and joined the snake of descending children. Sam came with her, and another younger girl who had been one of the last ones down. As a trio, they went down the endless winding staircase. Shoko still found herself staring at her surroundings.

As they went down, the air got colder and colder. Near the bottom of the stairs, Shoko could acutely feel her chilly fingers and nose. The group's footsteps made a loud racket against the metal floor, and the sound echoed around incessantly through the cold air.

Once they had all reached the bottom, everyone gathered around a large metal door. They paused for a short while, making sure that everyone was there, before Stephen approached a terminal and got the thing open. It slid away with a clean swish and disappeared into the wall.

They all went through into a large circular room from there. Hallways jutted off from the room: three to the left, three to the right, and what appeared to be a single room just ahead. Stephen operated a second terminal and shut the metal door. The door slid into its spot and Shoko quickly noticed that the air was warming up.

Once he had done that, Stephen took all the boys and sent them down right-hand hallways. Stephen went along with them, disappearing quickly into one of the nearby rooms.

Mr. and Mrs. B got the girls into a single group in the round room. Once they had done that, Mrs. B got up in front and asked if any of the girls had an empty bunk and wanted a roommate. To Shoko's surprised, Sam quickly raised her hand.

Mrs. B acknowledged her and it was decided. The group split up, with all the girls heading down into the left-hand halls. Mr. and Mrs. B stayed where they were for a moment before disappearing into the single central room.

For a short while, they were in a whole flock of girls. However, the group thinned quickly. Girls disappeared by ones and twos into their rooms. The two of them went on for a while before Sam explained that theirs was the last room down the hall.

At one point, Meg called out from nearby, "Hey, g'night you two." They each responded with their own goodnight as Meg and Jessie filed into their room.

Sam and Shoko kept going as the hall got quieter and emptier. After a long while they were alone and Sam jokingly warned her not to get lost. Shoko laughed a little at that and soon they had reached the room.

Sam opened the door and the two of them stepped into a room that had apparently been decorated with whatever girlish things the outside world had to offer. There were pink things plastered onto the walls and flowers set out on shelves.

However, what interested Shoko more was the towering bunk bed. From Shoko's vantage point, she could tell that the top bunk was messy while the bottom seemed untouched. Without saying anything, Sam climbed up the ladder and made herself at home among the mess.

While Shoko was still standing by the doorway, Sam said, "Goodnight Shoko," and leaned up toward the ceiling. Sam tapped the smooth glowing spot on the ceiling and, with a click, the light went out.

"Goodnight Sam," Shoko said, stumbling through the darkness. She held her arm out in front of her and managed to climb all the way into the spotless bedding without event. Shoko curled up beneath the blanket and shut her eyes.

However, sleep didn't come that easily. Shoko found herself lying in the dark for some time. Her mind seemed to buzz as her body lay still. She couldn't think about anything though. Shoko couldn't think of what to think about. She felt that she needed to think of something before she fell asleep but there was nothing to be thought of.

With startling clarity, a singly though burst into her head and Shoko knew this was what she had been vainly searching for.

Her parents

For the first time, Shoko found herself thinking about her parents without restraint. She confronted the idea of their abandonment without fear and was met with a harsh emotional blow.

Shoko cried silently into her pillow.

Heart wrenching thoughts raced through her head. Memories and pictures filled her mind until nothing else could fit. They stuffed themselves all into her skull, filling up every ounce of available room until there was none left.

From there, the thoughts and emotions, memories and pictures. From there they all leaked out as tears and wholly stifled sobs. Shoko was silent in her despair.

After a long while of weeping, Shoko found herself unable to cry. It was all gone now. The well of tears had gone dry and Shoko was empty. With itchy eyes that would surely show red in the light, Shoko lay down to sleep.

It came to her this time, guiding her away from the past and into her dreams. Shoko slept peacefully, and dreamt of climbing a great mountain.

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Hope you're liking it. Don't forget to review.


	7. Wolves and Rabbits

I'm sorry about the long wait. I'd only worked out the plot as far as chapter six so I got stuck. Anyways, it should be fine now. Back to the twice per week updates.

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Shoko awoke to the sound of shoes on metal.

It was a loud clanging noise that resonated from the distance. Shoko could hear voices of excitement coming along with the running noises.

Shoko rose slowly from her mess of blankets and stared around at the unfamiliar environment. It took her a long moment for Shoko to recognize anything. Her gaze found Sara and she stared at the doll, trying to figure out where she was.

It came to her in small batches. She was in the metal place. The metal place was in the ground, beneath a small building. An image of the world outside flitted through Shoko's head. The sunset, then the pack of children, then the pitch black darkness in all directions.

The random flickers of memory all converged together and Shoko realized her location with a gasp.

Running out into the hall, she stared down its silvery expanse with a sort of feverish glee. This was a new place, something totally unexplored and something that she didn't understand in the slightest. From that moment, she loved the place for all its endless robotic mystery. The silver place was made to resemble a house, but Shoko knew it as a subterranean cavern.

She went off running down the hall, staring around happily. Every glimmering surface called out to her, beckoning Shoko onward.

Shoko ran and ran until she was spat out into the circular main room. It, too, was empty. She could hear the footsteps and voices still coming from far away, down the right-hand halls.

She started in that direction before pausing. What was the chance of the right-hand halls being built in a completely different fashion? As Shoko looked around, it became evident that the right wing would most likely be identical to the left.

This left her at an impasse. There wasn't anywhere else to go exploring. She knew the left and right wings, and the metal door was still shut fast.

In a fit of glum curiosity, Shoko approached the door panel. It was a dull grey color with several dozen individual keys. It seemed that they could be lit from behind.

After staring at the thing for a long while, Shoko took a breath and tentatively raised a hand to the keyboard. Her fingers hovered over the keys for a long minute as Shoko tried to choose one to press.

Finally she settled on one of the farthest left keys. The light beneath glowed as her finger sank down and stayed even after she'd removed her hand.

"Nice try," a voice said from behind her," but that's not even _close_ to the code."

Shoko jumped, squealed, and spun around in shock. She was internally chastising herself for the second one even as she recognized the looming shape as Stephen. She expected him to be mad at her for messing with the buttons, but instead he just grinned.

"How about you let me take care of that? We'd be out a lot faster." He said, still in strangely high spirits.

Shoko noticed his use of the word _we _and suddenly noticed the group of boys standing behind him. They ranged from six to what could have easily been sixteen. They stood there as a hodgepodge mass, all staring at her.

A thin chuckle escaped her throat as Shoko stepped away from the keyboard. Stephen advanced, leaving her halfway between his turned back and the forest of staring eyes. Shoko tried to ignore it, but she couldn't totally push away the itchy feeling of being watched. Shoko made sure not to look in their direction, but she was sure that every one of them was looking at her.

It didn't last long, however, because the metal door opened with its dry _swish._

The boys poured past her like air out of a balloon. Shoko found herself being carried along by the torrent, just one drop in the roaring river.

The mass of them attacked the stairs, all rushing upward with a thunderous sound. Shoko ran with them, swept up by the energy of the pack. As one they climbed up along the silver steps, toward the circle in the ceiling.

It seemed forever that they ascended, when the whole escapade must've taken seconds. Whichever it was, they reached the top platform and gathered around the shiny ladder like hungry piranhas.

It was years later when a winded Stephen jogged up the steps and joined them. The sea parted before him and provided a path all the way to the ladder. Stephen wrapped his hands around the metal ring and twisted, hard, in one direction until it was spinning freely.

Stephen pushed the cap open and climbed out. The man disappeared from sight for a full minute, and all the while they were silent. As ferocious as the pack had been moments before, they were statues.

Slow footsteps could be heard from above. Stephen stalked around the area, opened the door, and explored the land beyond.

They were all tense, a shared sensation. Shoko noted that the boys nearest the ladder were the anxious. One had his arms on the ladder and seemed ready to scale the thing in a hurry.

Shoko found herself realizing, just for a moment, exactly how vulnerable they were. These were children. Energetic and rambunctious boys, but still children. They might as well have been rabbits.

For a long minute, they all waited for Stephen's response. For a long minute, nobody moved and the group hardly breathed.

Finally, Stephen called down the all clear and they started up the ladder, wolves once more.

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Don't forget to review, let me know what you think


	8. Energy

The morning light was grey as they all flooded out of the building. Once again, Shoko found herself running toward the back of the group, owing this to her handicap. She'd been the last one up the ladder and thus the last one out.

Another thing that Shoko noticed, was the fact the she was the only girl. All of the others must have been asleep still, laying around in their beds like lazy stones. Shoko was proud of her activity, and proud that she could keep up with all of the energetic boys.

They raced around in circles, orbiting yet more overlapping circles. There was no order in the activity and there was not a care in the world. A few of the boys were playing games inside of the vortex. The rest of the boys, and Shoko, were happy just to run after a night spent cramped in that massive silver shell.

She could feel the muscles in her legs stretching out and it felt great. Her whole body was moving around, mindlessly reacting to her mind's automatic commands. Everything was a twisting, seething mass of movement.

After a long time spent running, the spiraling group fell to the ground one at a time. They lay there, gasping for breath, grinning widely as they rested in ones and twos. A few of the boys were exchanging words with nearby friends, while others lay motionless save for the rise and fall of their chests.

Shoko belonged to the latter category. She just stared up at the sky, looking without focus into the grand blue soup. Her lungs burned from the inside out but it was a welcomed type of burn. Her legs were sore, even though Shoko could feel her toes still twitching, still excited to run.

There was a thin haze over her eyes from the exertion, and this was why Shoko didn't see Tommy standing over her before he managed to speak. Before any words came out, he uttered a gleeful chuckle, "Hey! There you are!"

As blind as she was, Shoko flinched at the sudden voice. Blinking her eyes and wiping them with the back of her hand, Shoko gazed up at the shape for a moment, trying to figure out who it was. Then suddenly the voice connected in her mind and Shoko was rising to her feet, a grin already spreading across her face.

"Hey Tommy," she said, looking at him uninhibited for the first time that day. Dirty blonde hair poured over the top of his yellow eyes. In the back of Shoko's head, there was an image of Tommy with red hair. With a start, she realized that it must've been from the dirt.

Tommy was grinning his happy wolfish grin, with teeth that stuck out from all angles. He had a few small scars trailing across his darkly tanned face and they stood out as pale white streaks.

With a stray look over Tommy's shoulder, Shoko noticed Peepers standing there. He looked just as frazzled as Tommy did, with the same scars and tanned skin. However, his eyes were piercing blue and his hair stark black. He was shorter than Shoko, who was, in turn, shorter than Tommy.

"I finally found you!" Tommy exclaimed.

"Yeah," Shoko laughed, "I guess I got lost yesterday."

Tommy looked back at the swirling mass of boys. They had all picked themselves up by now and were starting the vortex anew. The movement was dizzying to watch.

"I can see how that might happen," he said with a grin, "Anyway, you wanna come play with us?"

"Uhh, sure," Shoko responded, "What are you playing?"

Tommy turned toward Peepers and asked, "What were we going to do next?"

"You said we were going to wrestle," Peepers said in a small, croaking voice, "You cheated yesterday."

"I _did_ not!" Tommy roared turning all the way around. The statement had shocked him in such a way that it made his eyes get big and his mouth shut tight. Shoko couldn't help snickering as he started arguing with Peepers.

"You so did!" Peepers said firmly, "You surprise attacked me!"

"There's no surprise attacking! I mean… no, it's not against the rules. There aren't any rules."

Peepers mouth dropped open at this and Shoko could tell that he didn't agree. Not in the least bit.

"You can't just _say_ there aren't rules just because you broke them!" Peepers insisted.

"There were never any rules!" Tommy said incredulously.

"I there aren't any rules," Peepers shouted, "Then I can do… this!"

With just that moment of warning, Peepers through himself forward, headfirst, into Tommy's stomach. Shoko could hear the air go out of his lungs with the impact and she had to jump out of the way to keep from being fallen on.

Tommy went down hard, falling flat against the hard dirt with Peepers right on top of him. Tommy wheezed for a few moments as the smaller boy attacked him ferociously.

However, amid the rain of teeth and balled up fists, Tommy somehow managed to bring a fist up sideways and knock Peepers off with a blow to the ear. Peepers flew off and rolled across the floor. Even as he righted himself, Shoko could see a bruise beginning to form on his earlobe.

Tommy, with bruises all along his left arm and chin, turned to Shoko and said, "On second thought, you might not want to play with us. We get kinda rough."

Shoko stared down at him and imagined all the words that were better than _kinda_. She also laughed. Without so much as saying a word, Shoko threw herself down at Tommy, a fist already launching itself toward his stomach.

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I hope you liked this as much as I did. I love expanding upon Shoko's tomboyishness.


	9. A Storm

The three of them rolled around like a tiny but vicious storm. There were no rules and no holding back. Shoko was lost in the swirling trio of aggression. She didn't think beyond the quick instincts of attacking. She saw an exposed arm and Shoko bit. Seeing a patch of hair, Shoko reached out and pulled.

Shoko kicked and punched like a ferocious animal. A gleefully ferocious animal. The whole time, Shoko never stopped laughing. Not when a fist was being shoved into her stomach or when her face got shoved into the dirt as the two boys fought atop her obliviously.

She'd managed to worm her way out, the grin never fading as Shoko knocked the two over with a sweeping kick. They went down like stones and Shoko dove in, already balling up her fist.

Somewhere across her body, there were dozens of bruises forming and waiting to be formed. She had scrapes and dirty patches. Shoko's hair was full of twigs and dirt and blood. Despite all this, or possibly as a result of all this, Shoko felt fantastic.

She was an animal as she fought those two. Nothing existed beyond the ruthless scrap. Nothing was real and nothing needed to be. All Shoko required was the feel of her fist making contact, and the returning sting of pain.

It seemed that she never grew tired, just as the two boys never seemed to. The fight went on forever, becoming a whole world of its own. There were surely other children about, but they existed in a different time and place.

Shoko drove her knee into Peepers' stomach and saw him choke from the impact. His eyes popped out a little at the same time, but that didn't stop him. The boy reached out toward Shoko's hair, but a hand caught it in midair.

The fight dissolved in a moment.

The storm went away and they were suddenly just three kids among many. They fell apart and sat on the ground separately. Tommy and Shoko stared at Peepers from either side as Stephen grasped his hand from above.

The air was still and empty, silent as they waited for Stephen to speak. Looking up at the man, Shoko felt fearful of what might come next. They'd been fighting, rolling around and fighting. Who knew what was going to happen to them. What was Stephen going to say? What was he going to do?

Still looking down at them, Stephen released Peepers' hand and said, "You'd better break it up if you don't want to miss training."

Shoko felt herself sigh and relax, even though the whole inside of her was ready to boil. It all flashed back to her in that moment and Shoko started to climb excitedly to her feet.

Training! Adventure was coming back to her. The prospect of adventure always made Shoko excited, but this was training. Adventure training! Stephen was going to teach them how to be adventurers. He'd promised her yesterday and it was actually happening.

Shoko could almost feel herself buzzing from the excitement.

Peepers and Tommy both leapt up at the same time and ran back toward the building. Starting just a second later, Shoko ran after them. She could see now that they were the last ones heading in.

However, Shoko could see a horde of girls filing out behind Mrs. B. They were all talking among themselves and stretching out the sleep. As she passed by, Shoko wondered how long she'd been awake.

For the most part, the girls went past obliviously. However, it seemed that Meg recognized her and Shoko saw her eyes nearly pop out of her head at that moment. The girl stared at Shoko as they passed, a question apparent on her lips.

Just as suddenly as she'd appeared, Meg was gone and Shoko was inside the building. There were still some girls coming up the ladder, and the trio had to wait for them before heading down. Both Tommy and Peepers slid down the ladder, creating a sharp _thud_ as they landed.

They waited for Shoko to descent before they went on.

Running down the stairs, Shoko followed closely on the two boys' heels. They shot down the stairs as a group, flying over the silver floor at the bottom. The big door had been left open and the boys led Shoko into the right-hand rooms.

They stopped quickly, standing in front of an open room. It was larger than Shoko's room, being at least thirty feet by thirty. All the boys were down here, acting as excited as they had been above, if not more so.

Shoko knew that she was excited, so very excited. Adventure training! Adventure training! ADVENTURE TRAINING!

Stepping into the room, Shoko looked around, wondering what it would be like. The room was plain silver all around, completely unfurnished.

Footsteps resounded behind her, and Shoko spun around quickly. Stephen was standing there, a strange look on his face.

"Who's ready to train?" he asked the room.

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I hope you're liking this so far, leave some reviews to let me know. :)


	10. Tension

The children all rushed around in anticipation. Cries of excitement filled the air and squabbles began to break out by the dozen. Luckily, Stephen seemed well prepared for this and he called out in a loud, steady voice, "Hey! Come on! Do you want to get started or not?"

That got their attention and everyone froze. One by one, they all sank out of the various position of combat and gradually slipped away from each other. Soon enough, every child had a space around their body, proving that they would cause no trouble and couldn't even if it was desired.

Stephen, a wide, silent grin on his face, walked out among the sea of children. He was still a pillar above them, sticking out of the crowd like a giant. Shoko stared up at him with amazement, wondering what magical things he would teach.

"Everyone get in lines!" he called out, the stern voice bouncing around the silvery room. As Shoko watched, all of the boys fell into line and Shoko scrambled to match them. In the corner of her eye, Shoko could see Stephen surveying their arrangement.

"Good, now before we start, there is a newbie here with us." He said to the grid of children, "Shoko, and _she_ is going to need someone to help her out, at least until she can get caught up. Are there any volunteers?"

All at once, Shoko felt three dozen faces turn toward her, appraisingly. Most of them turned away immediately upon confirming the possible error of the sentence. _She_. Most of the others looked away after a few more moments.

In the end, there was only one hand in the air for Stephen to choose.

"Yes, Tommy, you want to help her?"

Shoko could see the boy nod and smile his toothy smile. She felt herself smiling as well, at the mere sight of his foolish grin.

The idiocy of that occurred suddenly to Shoko and she was disgusted with herself. Shoko shook herself violently and forced her mind into thoughts of adventure, mountains and caves, wide empty skies and the unmistakable sight of new stars. That managed to calm her down and distract her from… ugh.

Before she knew it, though, Tommy was approaching her. He led her to the side of the group, into a slightly vacant corner of the room. Shoko heard Stephen talking to the rest of the children, explaining something complicated.

"Okay," Tommy said, trying to come up with a curriculum off the top of his head, "So I_ know _you can fight, but how well? What do you know?" At that question, Tommy proceeded to lead her through many different types of kicks. Low kicks, high kicks, sweeping kicks and straight kicks. Heavy, damaging kicks and kicks that were meant to knock the opponent off balance.

After a while, Tommy seemed satisfied with her mastery of the art of kicking the air. However, he did say that she needed to work on her balance. Shoko started to protest this, but Tommy immediately insisted wave her hand in a circle while lifting the opposite foot high in the air.

Shoko tried this and fell almost immediately, proving Tommy's stupid point. Despite her internal protests, Shoko found herself sulking at this realization. As Tommy explained the right way of punching things, Shoko caught a snippet of Stephen's lesson. That seemed much more interesting to her than whether or not she could stand on one foot or punch right.

Stephen was explaining all about navigation in the wilderness and how to find your way by stars and natural markers. Stephen said that the sun always rose in one side of the horizon and that it _always_ set in the opposite. No exceptions.

Suddenly, Shoko felt her legs fly out from beneath her body. Everything spun around for a few confusing seconds until Shoko found herself leaning, dizzily, against Tommy's outstretched arm. He was glaring at her with an annoyed look in his eyes.

"Are you gonna listen or not?" he growled, "I'm trying to help you here."

"But… I know this stuff," Shoko said, "I'm more interested in what Stephen is talking about."

Tommy looked at her and laughed.

"Fight me then," he said with aggravation plain in his voice, "If you've got all of this down. Win and you can go train with Stephen."

Shoko scoffed at this, exclaiming that she'd fought both him and Peepers not ten minutes ago.

"It's not the same. That was wrestling, that was playing, this is fighting. Are you going to fight me, or will you start paying attention?"

As a response, Shoko threw a punch at the boy. Something in her mind had told her to always throw the first punch, no matter what. The logic behind this said simply that the element of surprise would be on her side. Once the first punch connected, Tommy would be dazed, at which point she could bludgeon him with kicks and punches until he relented and admitted that this was dumb.

Moving like lightning, Tommy caught this fist nimbly in one hand and stared at her coolly.

Something about him seemed different, as if all that excited, boyish energy had been drained and purified into a dangerous seeming confidence. Shoko could see his eyes darting around, but not in the way they had before. They appraised now, as if Tommy was ready to weigh any motion or movement she made.

"Oh yeah!" Shoko challenged, not being one to accept defeat easily (if ever), "That's not all I've got! You'd better watch yourself."

And with that, Shoko threw herself into a nonstop onslaught. Her fist blurred in a dozen attempts to knock Tommy down through the ground and out the other side.

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I hope you liked this chapter. As the title states, it adds a little bit of tension, though not only one kind. Leave a review and let me know what you think, or maybe even where you'd like to see this story go.


	11. Conflict

Shoko launched a flurry of punches at Tommy, growled angrily as he knocked them aside. She launched each attack harder than the last, hoping desperately to make contact and wipe that stupid look off his face. She ducked down suddenly to throw a punch into his stomach, but Tommy just stepped back away from her.

Crying out in fury, Shoko rose and kicked at the same time. She launched a foot straight forward toward Tommy's midsection, hoping to catch him there and knock him back with a heavy pain in his gut. Her foot flew out like a rocket, but somehow he managed to slip one hand underneath the limb. As Shoko watched on, shocked, Tommy shoved his body beneath her leg and heaved upward.

Everything spun backward as Shoko's leg was thrown into the sky. Her other foot skidded across the ground beneath her. Shoko could feel herself about to fall, a fact made all the more infuriating by the look in Tommy's eyes.

Her foot did slip out from beneath her, leaving Shoko to drop through the air like a stone. However, she managed to somehow kick herself backwards onto her spine. She used the momentum instinctively and rolled backward. Her spine seemed to whip back into place, launching Shoko off of the floor and nearly into a standing position.

She stumbled backward a few steps, but found her balance quickly. Shoko stared at Tommy's shocked face and grinned. That wouldn't be the only shock…

Shoko charged forward and stopped a few feet shy of Tommy. She planted a foot and pivoted, launching a round kick toward the side of his head. Sudden aggressive confidence let Shoko's leg fly much higher than it had before and the kick connected. Tommy was thrown backward, head first, all the way to the ground. He landed flat and stared straight up for a second before popping back to his feet.

Running toward him even as he reached full height, Shoko threw her first at him in an excited follow-up attack. Infuriatingly, he caught it in one hand. Shoko raised one knee quickly, launching it straight upward. Tommy managed to twist his body downward and catch that too. Now he had his head bowed before her, and Shoko knew just what to do.

Drawing her own head back, Shoko dropped it like a punch and knocked it against Tommy's own. She could almost see the look of pained surprise in his eyes as the impact shook his hands loose. Tommy dropped to the floor even as Shoko reeled back.

She stumbled backward a few steps, seeing stars from the impact. Everything swayed and swam around her, but she somehow managed to keep tabs on that dark lump crawling across the ground. That was a very important lump. Slowly, it materialized into the shape of Tommy's slowly rising body.

He was, in fact, rising slowly. However, this proved less slow than Shoko's own recover and he came at her while she was still dazed. Like a bullet, Tommy's leg shot into her stomach and dug in there. Shoko felt the pain explode as she was thrown backward. Shoko's breath was already knocked out before she hit the ground. However, that impact did further damage, slamming any remaining air out of her body while knocking her head against the metal floor.

She lay there, groaning and unable to move. She didn't know whether to clutch her stomach or her head, and didn't know if she could move her hands toward either of those things. A wave of nausea passed over Shoko, but disappeared after a moment.

She stayed there, staring up at the silver ceiling. Suddenly, Tommy's face came between her and the silver. He wasn't smiling. Scowling, actually.

"I told you," Tommy said sternly, "You need to know the basics before you can go on."

"And you," a second voice said twice as sternly, "need to learn not to interrupt my class."

Both their heads turned toward Stephen with looks of horror. He was standing there, not far away, a giant over the two of them. There was a half amused grin just below his angry eyes.

"I don't care if you mess around like that outside, but it's distracting here. You're all supposed to be here because you want to learn, not just to mess around and play fight. If you're not going to take it seriously, you can't be here."

Fear sank into Shoko's heart as she stared up at Stephen. She _did_ want to be here. She wanted to be here very, _very_ much. She did care.

"I do want to be here," Shoko said. However, she heard Tommy say something very similar simultaneously. Their voices echoed together strangely, but Shoko didn't have a heart to think about that. All she cared about right now was whether or not they were going to be kicked out.

"I hope that you do, because I _want_ to teach you," Stephen said, "You can stay here and practice with us, so long as you don't mess around anymore."

"I won't!" they both said together, panicked and relieved.

"Good, I'm glad. But before you start practicing again, you'll have to prove you won't forget." He paused for a moment and looked around the room. It seemed that Stephen was measuring it up to something. Watching him, Shoko realized he was counting quietly under his breath. After a few long seconds, he stopped and looked back at them. "Fifteen laps around the room, then you can come back and practice."

Shoko jumped to her feet even as Tommy ran off. They reached the edge of the wall together and continued along it. They were quiet but the heavy breathing, however, with silently met glances, the thing soon became a race. All around the room, some hundred feet each loop, they raced.

The room resounded with the sound of their shoes against the floor. That fast clapping drowned out their breaths to all but them. It sounded like a storm, with winds and thunder.

It seemed forever before they reached the end. The fifteenth lap did come, though, to a tide of mutual relief. For a long while after that, they stood hunched over panting. They were both tired, but they bounced back quickly. It was only a couple minutes before they were ready to go and join the rest in practice.

They had only stood in the crowd for a few minutes though, before Stephen announced that practice was over for today. Shoko groaned out her disappointment as the pack of them filed out. Stephen came along behind them, shutting everything up as they left.

While they walked away through the silvery corridors, someone approached Shoko. She didn't know his name and she couldn't be sure that she'd seen him before, but he insisted that they spar sometime. He disappeared quickly after that, but Shoko still felt excited and happy. A couple others did the same, requesting fights before slipping away.

It felt good to be accepted.

As they were waiting by the ladder, Tommy came up to Shoko. For a moment she thought he'd be irritated with her still, but that proved false. He grinned and congratulated her for a good fight before patting her on the shoulder.

"Aren't you mad at me?" She asked, confused.

Tommy shrugged his shoulders and said, "Eh, not really. It's not your fault you're stubborn. Even if it got us in trouble, I kinda like it."

Shoko had started to protest, but became silent as he finished.

Tommy suddenly realized that he was next to climb up the ladder. He laughed and said, "See you on the other side," before starting up the ladder.


	12. A Moment at Night

Shoko walked through the metal hall with Sam. She could faintly hear the distant pattering of feet and the murmured voices of the other girls talking to each other. Lights clicked out, blankets were pulled back then replaced, but Shoko hardly paid any attention to any of the sounds. She was too busy fighting back her pressing exhaustion.

She had to rub her eyes and pull the lids back to keep them open. The weariness didn't end there, though. She could feel it all through her drained body: in the sore muscles of her legs and in the way her body seemed to sway with each step. Shoko was so tired that she longed for her bed down the hall. She couldn't wait to lay her head down and fall asleep. She doubted that she would even dream that night.

"Hey, Shoko?" Sam asked tentatively.

"Yeah Sam?"

"Where were you today? When I got up you were gone, and I couldn't find you for a couple hours."

"I was…" Shoko started to say, but was interrupted by a deep yawn. She opened her mouth wide and stretched her arms out to the side until it seemed they would snap off. Thus satisfied, she continued, "I was practicing with Stephen and the boys."

"Practicing what?" Sam asked, seeming avidly curious.

"Lots of stuff." Shoko said dully, and then went on to explain, "Like adventuring stuff. Star maps and making fires and fighting and that kind of thing."

"That's… uh," Sam said, apparently searching for the right word, "You like that kind of stuff?"

"Yeah," Shoko said simply.

Sam nodded at this, "Cool then. That's cool."

"Yeah, it is," Shoko said, feeling the tugging at her eyes. She could see their door growing closer by the step. "It's fun."

There was a short period of silence then. Shoko stumbled on, drained and oblivious while Sam tried to think of something to say. By this time, most of the other girls had either fallen asleep or begun to talk in distant hushed whispers. The hallway was silent, empty, and growing dim. Like a dusty twilight, it seemed to linger on as nothing occurred.

"When's your birthday?" Sam asked suddenly, cutting the silence and taking Shoko by surprise. She was suddenly thrust back into her own head in search of the answer.

"It's, uh… March… March fourth," Shoko mumbled out, drawing the words from her distantly hidden memory.

Sam chuckled a little and said, "I guess I missed it this year then, but I'll have to throw you a party next year."

"A party?"

"Yeah, it'll be fun. We can play games and stuff."

"But we… we do that now."

"But it's different when it's on your birthday."

"How?" Shoko asked.

"It's like…" Sam said, grasping for a description, "It's all for you. Like everyone is having fun because of you, because you're here."

"That must be nice," Shoko said groggily, slipping in and out of her zombielike consciousness.

"You've never had a birthday party, have you?" Sam asked, a curious sadness in her voice.

Shoko shook her head slowly.

"I'll have to fix that then. I am _going_ to throw you the best party. It'll be great. All of your friends will be there…"

"Even Tommy?" Shoko murmured out. For a moment, Sam stumbled over the question but she recovered quickly.

"Yeah, sure, even him. We're going to have so much fun. I promise."

"But my birthday's not for another eight months," Shoko protested halfheartedly.

"That'll give me more time to prepare. You just watch, you are _going _to have a party and it is going to be amazing."

Shoko smiled at her friend's dogged pursuit of the subject. Somewhere in her muddled mind, Shoko understood the words and responded to them. The problem was that the coherent thoughts all got mixed around by the maze of sleeplessness. Shoko couldn't truly set herself to anything except the goal of her bed. Aside from that, everything seemed peripheral. A faraway part of her mind discussed parties and practice with a faraway friend.

The separate half of Shoko's mind kept on the discussion until they'd reached the room. They talked all the way there. Sam was kept blissfully away from the silence even as Shoko moved step by step closer to sleep. Sam never took notice of Shoko's murmured replies or, if she did, they didn't offend her. She was perfectly happy to talk with whatever bit of Shoko's brain that was offered to her.

However, it may have peeved her to know that the party plans never made their way into Shoko's memory. The event became the workings of the world's first postwar surprise party. History was in the making, though it was never recognized, realized, or recorded.

So it went, thoughtless and idyllic. All talk of parties and practice while plodding off down the hall. They reached the room and climbed into their beds. Sam shut off the light and bid Shoko goodnight. Shoko murmured something back to her and they both fell off to sleep.

Somewhere else in the silent darkness of the metal compound, Tommy was lying awake, still buzzing from the days energy. He had scrapes on his arms and a stubbed toe and his mind was racing. This was not a direct product of the girl Shoko, for this was not even remotely unordinary. His mind flew in wide circles and arcs as he calmed down.

However, Tommy's thoughts did return to Shoko more than most other subjects. She was just so _interesting_.

On the bunk below, a boy known as Peepers slept soundly. His sleep was filled with disturbingly strange but totally untroubling dreams. He wandered among a warped world filled up with miraculous animals and surreal experiences.

Outside of that room and down the hall, Stephen was standing alone in his room. He often did this, after all the children had gone to sleep. He looked around his room, checking that nothing was amiss. His sword stood in one corner, a gleaming blade in a dirty wooden scabbard. He shut and locked the door. He could never fall asleep if that was not done.

Stephen looked all around the room. Not for something in particular but for anything at all. Anything that was not as it had been or not as it should be. Once Stephen was satisfied with the order of his sleeping quarters, he drew the sword out and stared at the length of polished steel. He slung the scabbard over his back and began to work over his forms.

Practice was necessary to maintain skill. Skill was necessary to keep one safe. _Much_ more skill was necessary to keep so many children safe. Stephen knew better than anyone here the monsters which existed outside. He had seen so many terrors firsthand, stood face to face with too many cruel events to leave himself unprepared.

Flying around the small room as if it were a battlefield, Stephen danced among his opponents. He held the katana with both hands as it was meant. Though he performed the blade dance thoughtlessly, Stephen could see the moment he'd first found the sword. He could see every moment of practice and each blistering second of battle. Stephen could see the faces of the people he'd killed and the faces of the people who had nearly killed him.

As he did most nights, Stephen reflected on his life with a cool detachment. However, there were some memories which could not be skimmed over or danced around. There were a certain few memories which grabbed at his heart and threw tears into his eyes. Stephen fought desperately but he could not overcome himself.

As he did most nights, after he was tired and sweating, Stephen sheathed his blade and wiped the tears from his eyes. Only then, once his body and mind were equally exhausted, could he sleep. Only then could he be sure to avoid the dreams.

* * *

I really hope you've enjoyed this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. The whole of that last portion was simply lovely for me and I hope it was as powerful to you. Small answers to big questions, that is the making to good drama :)

Thus concludes part one. I felt like I was writing a season finale, especially with that bit of floating narrator. Anyway, don't forget to review and tell me what you think.


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